THINKING CRITICALLY, International Edition teaches the fundamental
thinking, reasoning, reading, and writing abilities that students need to succeed in the
classroom and beyond.
The text begins with basic skills related to personal experience and then
carefully progresses to the more sophisticated reasoning skills required for abstract,
academic contexts.
The 10th edition maintains the hallmarks that make THINKING CRITICALLY an
effective tool for instructors and students. Each chapter provides an overview of an
aspect of critical thinking, such as problem-solving, perception, and the nature of
beliefs. Exercises, discussion topics, and writing assignments encourage active
participation and prompt students to critically examine others’ thinking, as well as
their own.
Table of Contents
1. THINKING.
Thinking Critically About Visuals: The Mystery of the Mind. Living an “Examined” Life.
Thinking Critically About Visuals: You Are the Artist of Your Life. A Roadmap to Your
Mind. Working Toward Goals. Achieving Short-Term Goals. Achieving Long-Term Goals. Images,
Decision-Making, and Thinking About Visual Information. Images, Perceiving, and Thinking.
Thinking Critically About Visuals: Disaster and Perspective. Thinking Passage: The
Autobiography of Malcolm X. From The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X with Alex
Haley. An Organized Approach to Making Decisions. Living Creatively. “Can I Be
Creative?” Becoming More Creative. Thinking Critically About Visuals: “Expect the
Unexpected” – Heraclitus. Thinking Critically About New Media: Creative Applications.
Thinking Passage: Nurturing Creativity. ‘Original Spin,” by Lesley Dormen and Peter
Edidin. “Revenge of the Right Brain,” by Daniel Pink. Thinking Critically About
Visuals: ‘Express Yourself!” Chapter Summary. Suggested Films.
2. THINKING CRITICALLY.
Thinking Critically About Visuals: “Now It Is Time for Us to Part …” Thinking
Actively. Influences on Your Thinking. Becoming an Active Learner. Carefully Exploring
Situations with Questions. Thinking Independently. Viewing Situations from Different
Perspectives. Thinking Critically About Visuals: Thinking Independently. Supporting
Diverse Perspectives with Reasons and Evidence. Thinking Critically About Visuals: “You
Leave, I Was Here First!” Discussing Ideas in an Organized Way. Listening Carefully.
Supporting Views with Reasons and Evidence. Responding to the Points Being Made. Asking
Questions. Increasing Understanding. Reading Critically. Asking Questions Using a
Problem-Solving Approach. Thinking Critically About Visuals: Complex Issues, Challenging
Images. Becoming a Critical Thinker. Thinking Critically About New Media: Issues with
Communication. Analyzing Issues. What Is the Issue? What Is the Evidence? What Are the
Arguments? What Is the Verdict? Thinking Passage: Jurors’ and Judges’ Reasoning
Processes. “Jurors Hear Evidence and Turn It into Stories,” by Daniel Goleman.
Thinking Critically About Visuals: “Members of the Jury, Don’t Be Deceived…”
Analyzing On-Line Trends in Higher Education. Will the Web Kill Colleges?” by Zephyr
Teachout. Chapter Summary. Suggested Films.
3. SOLVING PROBLEMS.
Thinking Critically About Problems. Introduction to Solving Problems. Solving Complex
Problems. Accepting the Problem. Step 1: What Is the Problem? Step 2: What Are the
Alternatives? Step 3: What Are the Advantages and/or Disadvantages of Each Alternative?
Thinking Critically About Visuals: “I Have a Creative Idea!” Step 4: What Is the
Solution? Thinking Critically About Visuals: “Why Didn’t I Think of That!” Step 5:
How Well Is the Solution Working? Solving Non-personal Problems. Thinking Critically About
New Media: Surfing Dangers and Addictions. Thinking Critically About Visuals: Advertising
to Change Behavior. Thinking Passage: The Influence of New Media “Is Google Making Us
Stupid?” by Nicholas Carr. Chapter Summary. Suggested Films.
4. PERCEIVING AND BELIEVING.
Actively Selecting, Organizing, and Interpreting Sensations. People’s Perceptions Differ
Thinking Critically About Visuals: The Investigation. Viewing the World Through
“Lenses”. What Factors Shape Perceptions? Thinking Critically About Visuals:
Witnessing a Martyrdom. Five Accounts of the Assassination of Malcolm X. Thinking Passage:
Experiences Shape Your Perceptions. Untitled by Luis Feliz (student essay). Thinking
Critically About Visuals: Perceiving and Managing Fear. Perceiving and Believing.
Believing and Perceiving. Types of Beliefs: Report, Inferences, Judgments. Thinking
Critically About Visuals: Observing a Street Scene. Reporting Factual Information.
Inferring. Judging. Differences in Judgments. Thinking Critically About New Media:
Distinguishing Perception from Reality. Thinking Passage: Perception and Reality on
Reporting the Earthquake in Haiti. Haiti,” by Jonah Lehrer. “Making Sense of Haiti,”
by Amy Davidson. “Suffering,” by George Packer. “Aftershock,” by Bryan Walsh, Jay
Newton-Small, and Tim Padgett. Chapter Summary. Suggested Films.
5. CONSTRUCTING KNOWLEDGE.
Believing and Knowing. Knowledge and Truth. Stages of Knowing. Thinking Critically About
Your Beliefs. Thinking Critically About Visuals: “I Knew That Aliens Existed!” Using
Perspective-Taking to Achieve Knowledge. Several Accounts of Events at Tiananmen Square,
1989. Beliefs Based on Indirect Experience. How Reliable Are the Information and the
Source? Thinking Critically About New Media: Evaluating Online Information. Before You
Search. Choose Sources Likely to Be Reliable. Was the United States Justified in Dropping
Atomic Bombs on Japan? Thinking Critically About Visuals: After the Bomb. Thinking
Passage: Seeking the Truth vs. Winning a Battle. “The Story Behind the Story,” by Mark
Bowden. Chapter Summary. Suggested Films.
6. LANGUAGE AND THOUGHT.
The Evolution of Language. The Symbolic Nature of Language. Semantic Meaning (Denotation).
Perceptual Meaning (Connotation). Syntactic Meaning. Pragmatic Meaning. “Jabberwocky”.
Thinking Passage. “How Nonsense Sharpens the Intellect,” by Benedict Carey. Using
Language Effectively. Thinking Critically About Visuals: Reading the Unwritten. Thinking
Passage. From Blue Highways by William Least Heat-Moon. Using Language to Clarify
Thinking. Thinking Critically About Visuals: Words Paint a Picture. Improving Vague
Language. Using Language in Social Contexts. Language Styles. Standard American English.
Thinking Critically About Visuals: “What’s Happening?” Slang Jargon. The Social
Boundaries of Language. Using Language to Influence. Euphemistic Language. “Ancient
Greece to Iraq, the Power of Words in Wartime,” by Robin Tolmach Lakoff. Emotive
Language. Thinking Passage: Persuading with Political Speeches. Thinking Critically About
New Media: How to Write for the New Media. “How to Write for the New Media,” by Neal
Jansons. Thinking Passage: Will Twitter Make Us Nit-Twits? “Twitter, Communication, and
My Inner Luddite,” by Yves Smith. “The Hidden Problem With Twitter,” by Carin Ford.
“How Twitter Will Change the Way We Live,” by Steven Johnson. Thinking Critically
About Visuals: “You’re Not Going to Believe This….” Chapter Summary. Suggested
Films.
7. FORMING AND APPLYING CONCEPTS.
What Are Concepts? The Structure of Concepts. Forming Concepts. Applying Concepts.
Thinking Critically About Visuals: Fashion Statements as Concepts. Thinking Passage:
Femininity and Masculinity. “Women and Femininity in U.S. Popular Culture,” Susan
Grayson. “The Second Coming of the Alpha Male,” by Michael Segell. Thinking Critically
About Visuals: “Pose!” Using Concepts to Classify. Thinking Critically About Visuals:
“A Tree Is Just a Tree, Is Just a Tree …” Defining Concepts. Thinking Passage:
Defining Cultural Identity. “Identify Yourself: Who’s American?” by Gregory
Rodriguez. Thinking Critically About Visuals: Who Is an American? Relating Concepts with
Mind Maps. Thinking Passage: The Concepts Religion and Religious Experience.”What Is
Religion?” by Frederick J. Streng. Thinking Critically About New Media: Using New Media
to Research a Concept. Chapter Summary. Suggested Films.
8. RELATING AND ORGANIZING.
Chronological and Process Relationships. Chronological Relationships. Thinking Passage
“Back, But Not Home,” by Maria Muniz (student essay). Process Relationships.
Comparative and Analogical Relationships. Comparative Relationships. Analogical
Relationships. Thinking Passage: Thinking Literally. Thinking Literally: The Surprising
Ways that Metaphors Shape Your World. Thinking Critically About New Media: New Media
Metaphors for Our World. Causal Relationships. Thinking Critically About Visuals: The
Places We Think. Causal Chains. Contributory Causes. Interactive Causes. Thinking
Critically About Visuals: Why…? Thinking Passage: Environmental Issues. “Playing God
in the Garden,” by Michael Pollan. “Eating the Genes,” by Richard Manning. Chapter
Summary. Suggested Films.
9. THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT MORAL ISSUES.
What Is Ethics? Your Moral Compass. I Would Follow My Conscience. I Do Not Know What I
Would Do. I Would Do Whatever Would Improve My Own Situation. I Would Do What God or the
Scriptures Say Is Right. I Would Do Whatever Made Me Happy. I Would Follow the Advice of
an Authority, Such as a Parent or Teacher. I Would Do What Is Best for Everyone Involved.
The Thinker’s Guide to Moral Decision-Making. Make Morality a Priority. Thinking
Critically About Visuals: “What Homeless Person?” Recognize That a Critical-Thinking
Approach to Ethics Is Based on Reason. Include the Ethic of Justice in Your Moral Compass.
Include the Ethic of Care in Your Moral Compass. Thinking Critically About Visuals: Ethics
and Emotions. Accept Responsibility for Your Moral Choices. Seek to Promote Happiness for
Oneself and Others. Seek to Develop an Informed Intuition. Discover the “Natural Law”
of Human Nature. Choose to Be a Moral Person. Thinking Critically About New Media: Ethical
Issues with the Internet. Thinking Passage: Thinking and Acting Morally. “The Disparity
Between Intellect and Character,” by Robert Coles. Solving the Problem of World Hunger.
“The Solution to World Hunger,” by Peter Singer. Chapter Summary. Suggested Films.
10. CONSTRUCTING ARGUMENTS.
Thinking Critically About Visuals: ‘Let Herbs Grow Free!” Recognizing Arguments. Cue
Words for Arguments. Thinking Passage: Legalizing Drugs. “Drugs” by Gore Vidal. “The
Case for Slavery.” by A. M. Rosenthal. Arguments Are Inferences. Evaluating Arguments.
Truth: How True Are the Supporting Reasons? Validity: Do the Reasons Support the
Conclusion? Thinking Critically About Visuals: The Changing Rules of Love. The Soundness
of Arguments. Understanding Deductive Arguments. Application of a General Rule.
Disjunctive Syllogism. Thinking Critically About New Media: Freedom of Speech on the
Internet. Constructing Extended Arguments. Writing an Extended Argument. Thinking Passage:
Should We Ration Health Care? “Why We Must Ration Health Care,” by Peter Singer.
“Rationing Health Care: A Second Opinion,” by Leonard Laster. Thinking Critically
About Visuals: Cloning Mammals. Chapter Summary. Suggested Films.
11. REASONING CRITICALLY.
Inductive Reasoning. Empirical Generalization. Is the Sample Known? Is the Sample
Sufficient? Is the Sample Representative? Fallacies of False Generalization. Hasty
Generalization. Sweeping Generalization. False Dilemma. Causal Reasoning. The Scientific
Method. Thinking Critically About Visuals: Curing Disease. Controlled Experiments.
Thinking Passage: Researching Cures and Prevention. Thinking Passage: Treating Breast
Cancer. Causal Fallacies. Questionable Cause. Misidentification of the Cause. Slippery
Slope. Fallacies of Relevance. Appeal to Authority. Appeal to Tradition Bandwagon. Appeal
to Pity. Appeal to Fear. Thinking Critically About Visuals: Stop and Think. Appeal to
Flattery. Special Pleading. Appeal to Ignorance. Begging the Question Thinking Critically
About Visuals: Fallacies in Action. Straw Man. Red Herring. Appeal to Personal Attack. Two
Wrongs Make a Right. Thinking Critically About New Media: Internet Hoaxes, Scams, and
Urban Legends. The Critical Thinker’s Guide to Reasoning. What Is My Initial Point of
View? How Can I Define My Point of View More Clearly? What Is an Example of My Point of
View? What Is the Origin of My Point of View? What Are My Assumptions? What Are the
Reasons, Evidence, and Arguments That Support My Point of View? What Are Other Points of
View on This Issue? What Is My Conclusion, Decision, Solution, or Prediction? What Are the
Consequences? Thinking Passage: Thinking Critically About Authority. “Critical Thinking
and Obedience to Authority,” by John Sabini and Maury Silver. Thinking Critically About
Visuals: Milgram’s Experiment. “Pressure to Go Along with Abuse Is Strong, but Some
Soldiers Find Strength to Refuse,” by Anahad O’Connor. Chapter Summary. Suggested
Films.
12. THINKING CRITICALLY, LIVING CREATIVELY.
Living a Life Philosophy. Choose Freely. Condemned to be Free. Free Choice: The Mainspring
of Human Action. Creating Yourself Through Free Choices. Because You Are Free… Using
Your Freedom to Shape Your Life. Escaping Freedom. Increase Your Freedom By Eliminating
Constraints. Deciding on a Career. Thinking Critically About Visuals: Weighing Your
Decision Carefully. Thinking Errors in Career Decisions. Creating Your Dream Job.
Discovering “Who” You Are. What Are Your Interests? What Are Your Abilities? Finding
the Right Match. Thinking Critically About Visuals: A Bad Hair Day? Thinking Critically
About New Media: Searching Online For the Right Career. “Seeking Employment Online -- Is
Fear a Factor? 6 Tips to Protect Your Privacy,” by Kate Lorenz Thinking Passage: Finding
Meaning in Work. Thinking Critically About Visuals: Envisioning the Good Life. Choosing
the “Good Life”. The Meaning of Your Life. Final Thoughts. Chapter Summary. Suggested
Films.
Appendix.
Evaluating Your Thinking Abilities.
How Creative Am I?
How Free Am I?
592 pages, Paperback
